HYPERTENSION: Modern Epidemic, Silently Killing

Earlier in the week, on Wednesday 17 May 2023, this year’s World Hypertension Day was celebrated. This is the 6th in the series since the first one in 2018.

This aggressive awareness campaign on hypertension has been quite successful in its aim of making millions of people worldwide to be aware in what is hypertension, how to get diagnosed with simple blood pressure measurements, prevent and manage it with lifestyle changes and medications.

2023 Theme
The theme for this year’s Day was”Measure Your Blood Pressure, Control It, Live Longer.” The theme focused on increasing high blood pressure (BP) awareness in all demographic clusters all over the world. High blood pressure is BP= 140/90mmHg and above.

Silently Killing
Hypertension is a silently killing disease in all ramifications. This is because the focus of affectation of the condition is the blood vessel, which would not show symptoms in most people while the damage continues.

All tissues in the body are supplied by blood carried in blood vessels. Hypertension (high blood pressure causing tension in the blood) potentially has adverse effects on the walls of blood vessels depending on the types and calibers of the blood vessels. Hence longstanding or sudden increase in high blood pressure can lead to complications leading to stroke, blindness, heart failure, kidney failure, erection issues etc.

Stroke
Hypertension is the leading cause of stroke worldwide.

For example, STROKE can results from injury to blood vessels in the brain.
Small caliber thin walled blood vessels in brain can get ruptured with persistently high blood pressure or suddenly increased BP, which could lead to bleeding into the brain; this is felt as a sudden bang and intense headache in the victim, not uncommonly leading to death or serious paralysis of one side of the body or more.

“Apepa”
Unfortunately when the above occurred, it is commonly and ignorantly ascribed by the unscientific minds in our traditional belief systems to be due to spiritually-invoked sudden call from the outside realm, which is apparently not related. The Yorubas call it “Apepa” (called to death).

Similarly, the brain’s blood vessels can be blocked by small blood clots (emboli) detached from hypertension-related bigger clot deposit on blood vessel’s lining (thrombus) outside the brain. E.g from the carotid artery in the neck. This blockage thus prevent that part of the brain from getting blood supply to perform its normal functions. This function compromise in the brain could lead to affectation of the locomotor command of walking, tongue movement, facial expression etc which are the main symptoms and signs clinically seen in stroke patients.

The above enunciation, among others not featured here, shows why and how hypertension killed silently.

Hence in the spirit of the theme for this year’s World Hypertension Day, I implore everybody to know their blood pressure status today: take accurate blood pressure measurement, review this with your healthcare giver, use your prescribed medications regularly as advised and follow up with consultation with the doctor routinely.

May we never be a victim of “Apepa” (called to death) due to hypertension ignorance.

Stay Healthy this Friday and beyond.

…..FHG with Dr Goke